279: Chapter 279 A Five-Star Star Core Reappears! An Astounding Absorption Speed!

Nie Zhijun's body was as rigid as a rock.

His entire presence was faint to the point of near-nonexistence.

Wang Fei sighed from the side.

"At this rate, he can only last one more day at most, then maybe..."

Yun Haiyao had already begun to sob.

Zhang Jian, however, breathed a sigh of relief.

"One day?"

"That should be enough!"

His success rate for using the [Star-Shattering Art] was now as high as 60.5%.

It was almost like succeeding three out of every five times.

Moreover, the time consumed by a failed attempt was not much.

By his calculations...

He could basically complete one cycle every 40 minutes.

A single day was plenty of time to obtain 20 points of Star Power to use [Powerful Recovery].

However...

To be safe.

He didn't directly absorb an ordinary star core.

Instead, he prepared to absorb an Advanced star core.

What if Nie Zhijun couldn't even last a day?

And currently, he didn't have any Advanced star cores on hand.

Fortunately, Wang Fei had brought over the gains from this period.

Although they couldn't fully exert their strength because their bodies were being eroded by Star Power...

And thus couldn't get an SSS-rank evaluation or higher...

The basic gains were unaffected.

Every team basically obtained over 5,000 star core fragments per Dungeon run.

Over these past 10 days, the three Dungeons had been explored twice each.

With six teams, they had gathered a total of over 20,000 star core fragments!

Adding in the massive amount of extra loot accumulated in the Sword Puppet warehouse...

The total number directly exceeded a million!

He began to confidently use [Heaven-Chosen Synthesis] to quickly manufacture them.

With a guaranteed success rate of 70%...

Almost two out of every three attempts resulted in a successful synthesis.

Under the bonus of his affixes, the probability of high-quality star cores appearing had completely surpassed the probability of the lowest one-star rank.

Various lights flashed in turn, looking extremely dazzling.

Wang Fei, who had stayed behind to guard, was seeing this scene for the first time and was completely stunned.

Wasn't it said that the probability of synthesizing star cores was extremely low, and high quality was hard to come by?

Looking at Brother Jian's movements, he's turned it into an assembly line!

Brother Jian, you're freaking awesome!

Zhang Jian's hands moved rapidly; he didn't have time to communicate with Wang Fei at all.

After experiencing countless sessions of tempering with the [Star-Shattering Art]...

He found himself more familiar with the structure of star cores.

Although this didn't increase the synthesis success rate...

It made his synthesis work much faster and smoother.

A synthesis could be successfully completed in almost ten seconds.

Picking up new fragments and re-entering the state didn't face any interference either.

At this pace...

In just half an hour, he had performed over a hundred syntheses.

Zhang Jian picked through them casually and found two four-star star cores.

He had originally thought about pushing through to synthesize a five-star star core to improve the efficiency of Star Power absorption.

But then he reconsidered.

Under the [Heaven-Chosen Synthesis] method, the highest that could appear was a five-star star core, and the probability was as low as less than one in a thousand.

Even with his affix bonuses, this probability was at most around five per thousand.

That meant one would appear every 200 or so attempts.

If he was unlucky, it would be normal for one to appear only after three or four hundred times.

At his speed, it would basically take two hours to guarantee one.

Right now, Nie Zhijun's life was hanging by a thread.

There might not be enough time for him to keep trying.

Besides...

A four-star star core already had a special effect that increased the base speed of Star Power Fusion and absorption by 200%.

That was enough to meet the current needs.

Thinking this, his hands didn't stop.

Inadvertently, he completed several more syntheses in a row.

Just as he stopped his hands...

He was astonished to discover...

Among the most recently synthesized star cores, one appeared with an even brighter glow and a unique shape.

Zhang Jian picked it up and confirmed it.

He had actually synthesized another five-star star core by accident!

However, if he wanted to use this star core as an external star core to re-absorb and fuse it...

It would easily take a whole day.

There clearly wasn't enough time now.

It could only be used as a resource to absorb and replenish Star Power.

Zhang Jian didn't feel the slightest bit of heartache and immediately began to absorb it.

But before absorbing, he still told Wang Fei...

To wake him up immediately if Nie Zhijun's condition became critical or worsened.

With the star core in hand, he had only just attempted the absorption motion...

When Zhang Jian felt a surging power rush into his body.

Pfft!

This power was incredibly strong, even making his face flush and causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

Wang Fei was startled and was about to rush over.

But Zhang Jian waved him off, "I'm fine."

He felt a bit speechless internally.

Was this a case of being too weak to handle such a potent supplement?

Fortunately, it was only the first impact that was too strong; once he withstood it, the subsequent Star Power became incredibly smooth.

In just three minutes...

The current Star Power number of the star core on his panel flickered slightly and increased by 1 point.

Zhang Jian was overjoyed.

Advanced star cores are truly awesome!

At this rate, he could absorb 20 points in one hour.

In 10 hours, wouldn't that be 200 points?

Adding what he had already absorbed...

It would be enough to cast two Star Art!

However, his mind wavered as his emotions got a bit excited.

He failed to maintain the absorption state and suddenly snapped awake.

Opening his eyes, Zhang Jian's expression was a bit unsightly.

His heart skipped a beat.

Crap!

If the [Star-Shattering Art] is interrupted, the star core being absorbed will be ruined.

The five-star star core he had finally synthesized by luck was about to be gone!

But when he subconsciously looked at his hand, he saw the star core perfectly intact.

Zhang Jian was stunned.

Is this a bug?

He blinked his eyes, feeling a bit dazed.

The next moment, he realized.

When he was absorbing it just now, he hadn't used the [Star-Shattering Art].

In other words...

That rocket-like speed just now was merely the star core's natural absorption speed!

After realizing this, Zhang Jian couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.

If natural absorption is already this terrifying, if he used the [Star-Shattering Art], wouldn't it be out of this world?

Although this thought was tempting...

Zhang Jian did not plan to use the [Star-Shattering Art].

The effect of this technique was good, but the drawbacks were also significant.

The increased speed came at the cost of accelerated Star Power consumption and the loss of the star core's original maximum Star Power capacity.

The [Star-Shattering Art] at the Major Achievement level could increase absorption speed fivefold, but the final Star Power absorbed would only be one-fifth of the original.

This five-star star core, if absorbed normally, could yield 1,000 points of Star Power.

With the Star-Shattering Art at full power, it would only be 200 points.

This loss was staggeringly large.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, it simply wasn't worth it.

Since the natural absorption speed was currently sufficient, Zhang Jian was no longer in a hurry for quick results.

Instead, he took a deep breath, continued to hold the star core in his hand, and silently absorbed it.

Ten minutes.

Half an hour.

One hour.

Two hours.

...

Time slowly passed.

The light of the star core in Zhang Jian's hand remained dazzling.

But the Star Power within the star core in his body was increasing at an extremely rapid rate.

The pleasant sensation of Star Power entering his body made Zhang Jian forget about time, immersing himself within it.

Until...

Wang Fei's voice sounded in his ear.

"Brother Jian, Brother Jian!"